answers to reviewers questions or statements:
DarkDevilKnight: Yeah, but stuff like that always seems to find it's way to the person you don't wanna know's ears.
MCRasengan: Lucy had a bit of an adventurous side to her back before she joined Fairy Tail.
Zayden StormVoid: Yeah, trying to figure out Galuna's curse is gonna be a tad more difficult this time around. It'll be a while until Peter reaches the levels of the Spriggan 12, but it'll be worth it.
Omni-Creator Kami of Anime: He wasn't the victim of any Etherious in any shape or form and is the reason for his current power set.
Alex-Flyppy: Lucy's not a virgin, at least in this story she inst.
darthwolf: Maybe.
Fox Boss: I have a few ideas for some of Peter's typical rogues gallery, which we're gonna see in this chapter.
ShashankBhatt: We'll be seeing how Erza is dealing with her lowkey attraction to Peter next chapter and how it slowly begins to develop.
Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or Fairy tail characters seen, mentioned or used.
The following morning proved to be a bit of a hassle for Lucy.
It turned out that she received just as little sleep sharing a hammock with Peter as she would sleeping in between Natsu and Gray. Trying to fall asleep with an erection pressed tightly to your thigh and at one point slid down to between both thighs and lay just above her mound proved to a bit of a challenge. Than there was the fact that at one point Peter turned on to his side which in turn brought Lucy right into his chest where she was forced to stay until he either moved or woke up.
Things were only made worse when Happy woke up and saw the position she was in.
"EEEEEEHHHH, Lucy's trying to sleep with Peter!" the flying blue cat shouted, waking both Natsu and Gray along with Peter and the after mentioned woman.
"I am not you stupid cat!" Lucy bit out as Peter jumped awake before he fell out of his hammock and on to the cold wooden floor.
Sadly, just before Peter fell out entirely, he accidently grabbed Lucy's wrist and brought the startled half naked beauty with him. Thankfully his body proved to be a comfortable cushion for her to land on.
This only seemed to empower Happy as he flew in circles above a groggy Natsu and Gray "See Natsu, she's trying to seduce him!"
"Luce?" Natsu said with a yawn as he rubbed his eyes before looking to see Lucy push herself up so that she was straddling Peter's waist. His eyes widened at the sight, as did Gray's "What the hell are you doing!?"
"It's not what it looks like!" Lucy stammered as she quickly climbed off Peter's groin.
"This is not how I wanted to be woken up this morning" Peter groaned as he climbed back to his feet and rubbed his head "Ow..."
"What time is it?" Gray asked with a yawn as he stood up and stretched his arms over his head until he felt and heard a faint 'pop' from his back.
"Too early" Natsu groaned as he fell back on to his bed roll and looked up to see Happy circling him like a blue cat vulture.
"Blame Happy" Lucy huffed as she folded her arms across her chest and shot an annoyed glare towards the blue Exceed.
"Why were you in Peter's bed Lucy?" Gray asked the blonde with a suspicious look on his face.
"It was quieter where he was" Lucy said as she adverted her gaze from the dark haired teen.
"Uh-huh" Gray said with a tone that showed he wasn't convinced while Happy landed on Natsu's chest and pointed towards her with an accusatory look on his face.
"She was trying to seduce him!"
"I was not you little flea ridden rat!" Lucy growled at Happy.
"Hey, Happy doesn't have any fleas!" Natsu shouted in defense of his friend as he sat up and glared at Lucy "And he's not a rat, he's a cat!"
"You'd think it'd be obvious" Happy said with a shake of his head, causing Lucy to glower at them both as Gray and Peter were busy dressing themselves.
"What the hell was that about?" Gray whispered towards Peter as he threw on a shirt to wear.
"You two were snoring and she thought sleeping with me was the better option" Peter said with a shake of his head "Safe to say, wont be making that mistake again"
"What do you mean?" Gray asked with a furrowed brow.
"She was climbing all over me last night" Peter said with a annoyed sigh "I swore I was gonna get motion sickness from it"
Gray hummed at this before he turned back to see Lucy trying to grab Happy after he made a comment about her weight while Natsu stood between them and prevent the blonde haired girl from strangling his friend.
An hour later, the five of them stood just outside the village's gate, showered, fed and dressed for the day.
"Alright, let's get started!" Natsu yelled as he began to run forward before Peter shot a web line at his back and stopped him after a few feet with a simple tug.
"Whoa there hotshot" Peter said as Natsu let out a startled yelp and fell to the ground with a 'thud' "First we've gotta formulate a search pattern or we're just gonna be running around in circles all day"
"We gotta do a what?" Happy said with confusion as he landed next to Natsu who was busy glaring at Peter while he ripped the webbing off his back.
Peter sighed at the blue cat "we've gotta ick reasonable places to start looking around that could be a clue to where this curse came from"
"Ohhhhh" Happy said with wide eyes before he blinked and shrugged "Okay"
"Any ideas where to start?" Gray asked with a raised brow while Peter hummed in thought before looking towards the center of the island where the large mountain laid.
"We can start heading there" Peter pointed towards the raised area of land a few miles away "We saw a light up there the other night"
"I swore I could hear chanting the other night when we were first coming in" Lucy said with a slight shiver "You think whatever's going on up there might be connected to the curse?"
"Only one way to find out" Peter said with a shrug before he turned towards Natsu "Oi, matchstick!"
"What!?" Natsu growled at the white clad wizard before he saw Peter point towards the distant mountain.
"See mountain? Mountain might be connected to curse. So we go to mountain to look around" Peter said in a slow and deliberate manner "Understand?"
"Fuck you!" Natsu said as he jumped to his feet and stabbed a finger into Peter's chest "I'm not that big of an idiot like Gray is!"
"The fuck you just say to me you ember sucking bitch!" Gray said as he shoved Peter out of the way so that eh and Natsu were now glaring into each other's very eyes.
"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say there was some unresolved sexual tension between these two" Lucy said dryly as Peter remained lying on the ground, staring up at the sky.
"Same" Peter nodded in agreement before he sat upright and loudly clapped his hands, getting Natsu and Gray's attentions before they can initiate another brawl "Save the ass kicking for one another later, we've got a curse to figure out, a village to save and graves to make for ourselves for when Erza finds us"
At this, everyone paled as a sense of doom hung over their heads.
"we're all gonna die aren't we!" Happy whined with tears in his eyes.
"Probably" Gray said as he grew paler than snow "To think it'd be Erza that's going to end up doing me end, I should've known"
"We all should've" Peter said with a sigh before he noticed Natsu shaking "You okay there Natsu-"
"If anyone should be afraid, it's Erza!" Natsu said as a fire seemed to ignite in his eyes "Once we complete this job, she'll realize that her days as top dog at the Guild are numbered!"
"There is so many flaws with that logic but okay" Peter blinked at the Dragon Slayer before Natsu suddenly grabbed him by the collar "Whoa, what are yo-"
"Come on, time's a wasting!" Natsu said as he broke off into a run with a startled Peter in his grip.
"H-Hey, let me go you idiot!" Peter yelled as he found himself being dragged by a overly excited Natsu.
"There he goes again" Happy said with a grin before he summoned his wings and flew after them "I better go make sure he doesn't accidently kill him"
"Who, Peter or Natsu?" Lucy asked.
"Either one!" Happy replied.
Lucy couldn't help but grin at this before she noticed the look Gray was giving her "What?"
"You might wanna be careful Lucy" Gray said as he nodded towards the direction Peter, Natsu and Happy went "Man's taken"
"I'm aware" Lucy said with a frown.
"Waking up to see you practically naked in his hammock this morning says otherwise" Gray stated, causing Lucy to blush a little.
"I wasn't naked" she muttered "He was just nice enough to let me bunk with him since between all of you, he doesn't snore like a damn bear yelling into a microphone"
"Hey, I'm just giving you my two cents on the matter" Gray said as he held his hands up "And it's not me you gotta convince you aren't trying to swipe him out from under Mira, it's Mira herself. You don't wanna end up like the last girl that thought she could swoop in and take him"
"Huh?" Lucy said with confusion "What girl? What the hell are you talking about?"
"Girl named Ami" Gray revealed with a thoughtful look on his face "She joined up about a year ago, not long after Peter and Mira started to date. She was a fire-maker mage"
"Bet Natsu loved her" Lucy said with a snort.
"Nah, he hated her because of what I'm about to tell you" Gray said with a shake of his head before he took a deep breath and began "Not long after she joined up she started to hang out with Petr a lot. Most of us, including Mira just figured she was being friendly with the guy, didn't think much of it... After a while people started to notice she kept trying to go on jobs with him, sat with him every time he came to the Guild, even started stopping by his place on her way to the Guild in the morning"
"Doesn't sound all that different from what Natsu's doing with me" Lucy said with a chuckle before it died from the look Gray had on his face.
"She also began to talk shit about Mira when she was with Peter" Gray revealed, causing Lucy's eyes to widen "Not overtly, obviously, but she'd make these little comments every once in a while that anyone with half a brain could see were back handed insults. Peter I don't think at the time he really realized what she was saying about Mira, but a lot of us did"
"And you went to Mira with this, she realized what was going on and put a stop to it?" Lucy guessed.
"Nope" Gray said with a shake of his head "We tried to keep Mira from finding out. Girl had enough problems at the time, last thing she needed to hear was that some random skank was trying to snatch her boyfriend up. So me, Natsu, Elfman and a few others all cornered her one day and told her to back off if she knew what was good for her... she didn't take it well"
"Gee, I wonder why" Lucy said in a sarcastic tone.
"Hey it was either us or Erza" Gray said in his defense "I don't know about you, but I think we were the merciful option"
"Erza knew?" Lucy said with shock.
Gray nodded "She was the first to notice these things. About how Ami was spending a lot of time with Peter I mean"
"Why didn't she mention it to Mira?" Lucy inquired with a confused frown "I thought she and Mira were pretty good friends?"
Gray's response was a wordless shrug.
'Well that's helpful' Lucy thought with a twitching eye brow before something occurred to her 'Wait, if Erza was the first to notice what Ami was doing, she'd have to been watching Peter pretty closely beforehand...'
Which begged the question, why was Erza watching Peter already?
Before she could give that particular thought anymore attention, Gray let out a sigh as he looked of into the distance "Well anyway, Ami didn't take our warning to heart and proceeded to step up her game to try and swipe Peter away from Mira. It got to the point that even Mira noticed and well..."
"What happened to Ami?" Lucy asked with a sense of dread in her voice, already having an idea of how things went down.
"What do you think?" Gray said with a shrug as he headed of in the direction Natsu, Peter and Happy went "She reminded everyone why she was the Demon of Fairy Tail"
At this, Lucy's blood went cold.
...
"So, any idea of where to start looking?" Natsu said after he and Peter had been walking around for several minutes in complete silence "I mean the mountain at the center of the island seems too... obvious"
Happy, after catching up and reminding Natsu to release Peter before he accidently killed him by dragging him around all over the island, had flown ahead top see if he could find anything that could be related to this curse business and Gray and Lucy were still a ways behind the two.
"It probably is, but at least we can say we've checked it" Peter said with a shake of his head "From what I can gather, there's no one particular spot that the villagers know of that could've caused this Curse to originate from. It'll be a hassle but we might get lucky. But if nothing turns up, it may help me narrow down what it is we're dealing with. Like if this curse was an accident of some sort... or something worse"
"What'd ya mean?" Natsu asked with a confused look on his face.
"It may help me decide whether this curse is 'natural' or as natural as curses can get, or if someone intentionally inflicted it on these people" Peter revealed.
Natsu stopped walking and stared at Peter in shock "You think someone could've intentionally done this to these people?"
"It's possible" Peter said with a nod as he took a few steps forward and stopped to rub the back of his neck "The moon, far as I know, there's no 'natural' curse that can affect something like the moon to only curse a specific area like Galuna. Which means it's possible that someone's set whatever curse affects these people to respond in accordance to the eerie purple light the moon is displaying here"
"But why would someone wanna do that?" Natsu demanded with growing anger "what do they get from all this?!"
"Who knows" Peer said with a shrug "Maybe these people are merely being tested on, to see how a curse like this reacts on a population over a specific period of time... maybe someone was trying to do something else that involved the moon and it backfired and this curse came about. Or maybe..."
"Or maybe what?" Natsu asked.
"Or maybe someone's doing this just for the hell of it" Peter said with a sigh as he turned back to see a shocked Natsu "Maybe there is no real point. No reason behind all this, they just wanted to torture a populace with this curse because they could"
"What kind of sick bastard would do this?" Natsu asked with a disturbed look on his face.
"I think the shorter list would be who wouldn't do this" Peter said with grim amusement "There's a number of Dark guilds that could be behind this kind of thing-"
"NATSU!" Happy shouted as he suddenly came flying towards the two with a shocked look on his face "NATSU, NATSU!"
"What is it buddy?" Natsu said as the blue flying cat came to a stop in front of the two and pointed in the direction he came from "I just saw something down at the beach that I don't remember being there yesterday!"
"What is it, another boat?" Natsu asked before he paled "W-Wait, if it was, did you see who was on it?"
"With our combined luck, it'll be one very unhappy Erza" Peter said with a shiver at the thought of the scarlet haired woman coming here to retrieve them after Gray's epic fail.
There was no doubt in Peter's mind that the rest of the guild back home had already reached the same conclusion and were either planning on who to send next, or had already sent said person or even persons to get them. Peter just hoped it wasn't anyone too bad, like Laxus, the man will bring them all back broken in every conceivable way known to man!
"No, but you gotta see it!" Happy said as he flew back in the direction he just came from "Come on!"
Natsu nodded and prepared to follow when he noticed Peter was looking around, his right hand twitching a little "You okay?"
"Fine..." Peter said as he continued to stare into the foliage with an unreadable expression "Just thought... never mind. Probably nothing"
Natsu frowned at this and took a quick sniff of the area to see if there might be anything or anyone nearby. Aside from the smell of the jungle and nearby ocean, he wasn't getting anything.
Suddenly Peter turned back to Natsu and nodded in the direction Happy went "Come on, lets go see what he's found. Could be a clue"
"If you say so" Natsu said with a shrug as they both set off after Happy.
The two didn't make it thirty feet before a gust of wind coming in from the sea caused them to both freeze in their tracks. Natsu let out a gag as his hands flew up to cover his nose while Peter felt his stomach nearly heave itself out of his mouth at the odor that hit him. It smelled like the most vile, most rotten, putrid meat imaginable. Natsu's eyes started to water as his face turned green while Peter tried to breath out his mouth only to gaga as he could taste the smell in the air.
"Sweet mother of god, what is that?!" Peter asked.
"N-No idea" Natsu forced out as he pulled his scarf up and wrapped it around his face.
"If this is Happy's idea of a joke, I'm shaving him bald" Peter threatened.
"I'll hold him down" Natsu said, his voice slightly muffled by his scarf.
"What in gods name is the smell?" Gray's voice called out from behind the two.
Peter and Natsu both turned to see Gray and Lucy, safely inside her spirit Horologium.
"It's your skills as a wizard ice prick" Natsu said, causing Gray to glare at him while Peter wandered over towards Lucy and pointed towards the clock spirit.
"You mind scooting over in there?" he asked.
Lucy made some sort of face at this before she shook her head while Horologium voiced what she said.
"'o way, I don't wanna risk that smell getting in here', she says with amusement" Horologium said.
"Pfft, rude, I said" Peter grumbled as he turned back to see Gray trying to pull Natsu's scarf off before they all heard Happy's startled scream in the distance.
"HAPPY!" Natsu said with wide eyes before he broke out into a full sprint towards the beach.
Peter and Gray were right behind him while Horologium struggled to keep up wih the more agile wizards. They didn't have to go far before they emerged on the beach and froze at what laid in front of them.
"Whoa" Peter said with a whistle while Gray raised a brow.
"That's... not right" he said with a shiver.
Before the mages was a massive animal of some sort, what it was, was anyone's guess. The flesh was rotted to near mush in a lot of places and entire sections of the creature's body were missing. But whatever it was, it was massive when it was still alive.
"HAPPY!" Natsu shouted for his best friend and ran towards the rotting carcass "Where are ya buddy!?"
"Natsu!" Happy yelled as he sprung up from the other end of the carcass, covered in rotted meat.
"Happy, what happened to ya?" Natsu asked as Happy landed in front of him and shook some of the meat off.
"I landed on the giant fish but I didn't realize how badly rotten the meat was and fell inside" Happy said with a sigh "Now I smell like Lucy"
"'Hey, what's that supposed to mean you damn fur ball', she yells angrily" Horologium said as he emerged from the jungle.
"What is this thing?" Gray asked as he slowly approached the carcass and lightly kicked the mound of flesh in front of him before stepping back when the skin split and rotten meat spilled out.
"Don't know" Natsu said as his nose twitched from under his scarf before he made a disgusted face "It's been in the water too long for me to get an idea. Whatever it was though, it was big"
"Big's an understatement" Peter said as he took a few steps back and looked towards what he assumed was once the head portion of the body and looked out towards the water where he saw what he assumed was the tail reaching out into the ocean for a good seven meters "Thing had to at least be a good hundred feet long"
"Is it maybe a whale?' she asked with some unease" Horologium relayed for Lucy who was looking at the massive dead animal with wide eyes.
"What kind of whale has a leg like that?" Gray pointed towards a badly decomposed limb that could still be recognized as some sort of limb that wasn't a flipper.
"What kind of whale has multiple legs?" Peter pointed towards several parts of the body that looked like a limb used to be attached before it was either ripped off by whatever killed this thing or it simply fell off as the flesh was eroded away by the sea.
"Maybe it's a giant fish of some kind" Natsu said as he stared at the carcass with a surprisingly thoughtful look on his face "Hey Gray..."
"What?" the ice wizard glanced at Natsu who returned his look with a serious expression before he pointed towards the dead animal.
"This thing looks familiar for some reason... can you remember it for me?"
"SAY WHAT!?" Gray said with eyes the size of dinner plates "HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO REMEMBER SOMETHING THAT YOUR FAMILIAR WITH!?"
"Do you have any idea what it is Peter?" Happy asked.
"I'm drawing a blank" Peter said with a shrug before he froze "Unless..."
"Unless what?" Happy asked with curiosity.
"Unless..." Peter said before he was suddenly inside Horologium with a startled Lucy.
"Unless Gray remembers for Natsu, he says" Horologium said "EEEEEEEI, what are you doing in here, she yells in shock"
"EEEEEH, Natsu, Lucy's trying to seduce Peter again!" Happy yelled towards his friend.
"Luce, stop trying to seduce him, he's already taken" Natsu said with a sad shake of his head "It's Ami all over again"
"That's what I said" Gray said with a nod.
"Are you two serious, she yells in frustration" Horologium said before Lucy shoved Peter out of the clock like spirit.
"And stay out!" Lucy yelled before she made a face as the smell of the dead animal hit her and she immediately pulled Horologium's door closed and began to cough.
"That's awful, she says in disgust" Horologium said.
"Serves you right" Happy said, sticking his tongue out at Lucy who mouthed a series of words and pointed at the Blue Exceed.
"...I'm not repeating that" Horologium said with a shake of his head.
"Classy Lucy, real classy" Peter said as he climbed off the ground and brushed some sand off his hoodie.
"She's as classy as Natsu's careful about destroying things" Happy said with a jump.
"Man that's bad" Gray chuckled, causing Natsu to glare at him.
"You wanna say that again you frozen drop of piss?"
"You heard me you camp fire cum drinker!" Gray responded as sparks of electricity erupted between the two.
"Uh guys, as much as I'd love to see you two hundred and sixth fight, we still have a job to do" Peter said as he pointed towards the distant mountain.
"Fine/Whatever" Natsu and Gray said at the same time as they turned away from one another.
With a shake of his head, Peter turned on his heel and headed back towards the jungle with happy and Horologium, with Lucy still inside, right behind him.
Gray an Natsu gave one another a glare before the ice make wizard followed after the others, leaving Natsu alone for a moment as he glanced back at the dead carcass on the beach.
'I know there's something familiar about this thing... but I cant put my finger on it' Natsu thought before he shrugged and followed after the rest.
As the Fairy tail mages re-entered the jungle, leaving behind the unknown carcass, a portion of the air near the animal's corpse shimmered before figure emerged from the disturbance. They possessed long green hair that was a few shades lighter than the green cloak they wore over their bodies while a tribal like mask covered the upper half of their face, leaving the mouth and chin exposed. The unknown man quirked his head at the large decomposing animal next to him before he turned his attention in the direction the band of mages went and smirked.
"Fairy Tail... why am I not surprised, heh"
...
The next few hours went by slowly as the group of wizards slowly made their way through the jungle, trying to find a clear path to the mountain. Natsu had tried to burn his way through before Peter reminded him that they were there to free the village's people from a curse, not burn down half their home. Happy at one point suggested Lucy summon one of her spirits, Taurus, and have him cut a way through the thick vines and plants with his ax.
However, doing so involved sending Horologium back, something Lucy refused to do on account she was afraid of being infected with this demon turning curse going around.
"Ugh, your so lazy Lucy!" Natsu complained as they entered a small clearing with a small stream running through it.
"I am not, she yells in annoyance" Horologium responded as numerous mosquitos flew around him.
"I don't know Lucy, it kinda seems like you are" Peter said as he tapped on the glass for Horologium's little door "I mean, does Horologium here even get a say in whether or not he wants to carry you around a humid bug infested jungle all day?"
"I don't mind" Horologium revealed "In fact, this humidity is doing wonders for my finish"
"Least some's happy about this situation" Gray said with a snort as he glanced back up to see that the mountain seemed no closer than before when they first headed off to it "Hey guys?"
"Yo?" Peter said as he and Natsu turned towards him while Happy was busy poking at Lucy through the glass.
"We've been walking for a few hours right?" Gray said, his gazer still on the mountain.
"Yeah" Peter said with a nod "Why?"
"Doesn't it seem a little odd that we're no closer to that mountain than when we were back at the village gate?" Gray said as he glanced back at them with a bothered expression on his face "I mean, the island isn't that big"
Peter frowned at this before he glanced at the group's destination "You know, now that you mention it, it does seem a little odd we haven't gotten closer yet..."
With the rate they've been walking and the time doing so, they should've reached the place by now. Before Peter could understand why that wasn't the case, he suddenly felt a flare at the base of his skull just as Natsu straightened up and began to loudly sniff the air.
"We're not alone out here" Natsu said as he gazed in the direction he was picking up the unknown scent.
"Is it one of the villagers? She asked nervously" Horologium said.
"Doesn't smell like it" Natsu said with a frown as he took in their scent "Their not from the island..."
"And they aren't particularly friendly" Peter said as he followed Natsu's gaze to where the Dragon Slayer had located their unknown follower.
"One of your 'feelings'?" Gray asked as he stared at the same spot that Peter and Natsu were looking at.
Peter nodded "Yep... and from what I'm feeling, this guy isn't giving off friendly vibes"
No one moved as the mages from Fairy Tail waited to see if the unknown person will either reveal themselves now that they've been found out, or slip away. Lucy and Happy were both sweating bullets at the tension in the air while Peter, Natsu and Gray stood there, their muscles tense and their magic power flaring, both in warning and in preparation to be accessed should things escalate.
'This guy could just be someone that's actually accepted the Quest from another Guild...' Peter thought as he felt the flaring at the base of his skull begin to steadily increase 'But somehow I doubt that'
It also occurred to Peter that if the curse affecting the villagers was caused by someone, intentionally, this could be the person behind it. Though he'll wait before voicing that possible theory to the others, Natsu especially. Based on his reaction earlier to the possibility that this curse was inflicted purposely on the villagers, he may very well attack anyone that he thinks could be connected to it in any shape or form.
After several minutes, the sudden tension they were all feeling vanished, causing them to release a collective sigh of relief.
Peter couldn't help but chuckle as he felt the flaring at the base of his skull vanish "Man, for a second there I thought we're about to have a fight on our ha-"
"Thought? Oh no, no, no, no... you will!"
Peter froze as he sensed someone standing right behind him and turned to see who it was before he felt a powerful blast of energy to his chest. The force of the impact sent the young mage flying back a few meters and into a nearby tree.
"Peter!" Gray shouted as he turned to the unknown assailant that attacked his friend, already in the middle of forming a hammer of ice before he was blasted in the chest, same as Peter and sent flying into Natsu who was in the middle of preparing a Fire Dragon's Iron Fist before being interrupted by Gray's body slamming into his.
Lucy and Happy both watched with wide eyes as the three strongest members of this team were taken down within the span of four seconds by a single person!"
"Oh shit..." Lucy paled as Happy hugged her arm and buried his face in her side, afraid to look at what was before them.
It was a singular man, taller than even Horologium, and dressed in a black cloak with what looked like some sort of dark green armor. But his most distinguishing feature wasn't his clothes, or even the eight volleyball sized bloodshot eyes floating around the man... it was the fact that his entire head seemed to be covered in a green, almost white fire of some kind with a dark shadowed outline of a face.
The man, if it was a man, smirked at the sight of Gray, Natsu and Peter down before he turned his burning gaze towards Lucy and Happy "Hello there..."
"H-Hello" Lucy said with fear in her voice as she felt a large amount of magical energy radiating off the man.
"H-How can he s-see us through those flames on his f-face?" Happy shivered as the man stared at them while the floating eyes around him seemed to form some kind of orbit and circle him, watching them.
"I don't know, want me to ask?" Lucy stammered as her hand slipped to her key holster, ready to pull out one of her more combat orientated spirits.
This cased the flaming headed man's smirk to widen as one of the eyes came to a stop and started to glow "Now, now, why don't you come out of there little girl..."
The eye glowed for a second before it fired off a beam of energy right towards Lucy and Happy.
"Horologium, move" Lucy shouted.
The clock like spirit made to jump out of the way before he was suddenly struck in the chest by the beam of energy, taking Lucy and Happy by surprise. Lucy swore that Horologium would be able to dodge the beam of energy in time.
'T-There's no way it covered the distance that fast!' Lucy thought as the blast of the energy forced Horologium back to the Celestial spirit world, leaving her and Happy unprotected and at the mercy of the unknown man.
"L-Lucy, I think we're in trouble" Happy mumbled as he hid behind Lucy's legs.
"I agree" the blonde nodded in agreement as the man began to chuckle.
"To think a few mages from Fairy Tail would be here of all places... I wasn't aware the request to help this place had been accepted yet" the man chuckled as he took a few steps forward "I must say, I'm disappointed someone stronger than you all wasn't sent. It was S-class, last I checked, hehehehehe"
Lucy quickly reached for one of her golden keys, intent on summoning Taurus before one of the eyes glowed again and fired off another beam of energy, forcing Happy to grab the blonde beauty and take off into the air. It seemed that the two had dodged the hit before they were struck in the side by the very same energy beam they dodged. The man broke out into another fit of laughter as he watched the two slam into the ground, small burns covering their bodies as the eye that shot them ceased it's glowing and resumed it's hovering around thee man.
"It's always fun watching people try to dodge my hits only to realize they've been fooled" the man snickered as he watched Lucy let out a pained groan as she forced herself up to her knees, her top tattered to the point it barely covered her tube top.
"I-I know we dodged that one..." Lucy forced out with a pained cough.
"Well that's the difference between what you know, and what I know" the man chuckled "And what I know, is the truth. You didn't dodge it, hehehehe. You may think you did, but you didn't"
As the man continued to laugh at Lucy's confused and scared expression, Peter had finally regained consciousness and let out a cough as he felt like Elfman had just ran him over after Laxus was done using him for target practice.
"W-Who the hell are you?" Peter asked with a pained groan as he climbed back to his feet, the front of his hoodie was burnt from where he was attacked earlier.
"Don't worry about it little boy" the man snickered as his large floating eyes all turned their bloodshot gaze towards Peter and seemed to narrow in anger despite not having any eye lids to form such a expression "But I know who you all are"
"And what's that?" Peter asked as he felt his danger sense going off again.
"Well... your dead" the man said with a simple shrug before one of his eyes blasted a beam of pale white energy towards Peter.
'Not this time' Peter thought as he leaped out of the way, relieved he avoiding getting hit a second time and was just brining his stingers up to blast a concentrated barrage of webbing when he suddenly felt his danger sense go off again, confusing him for a moment before he was suddenly stuck in the chest again by the very beam he swore he dodged.
'What the fuck!?' Pete thought with shock as he was sent flying through the air again before he landed on the ground and skipped across it for a few feet before coming to a stop.
The man broke into another fit of laughter at watching Peter's body skip across the ground before he heard Natsu's voice behind him.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!"
The man turned around just in time to see a wave of fire coming towards him "Ooh, fire..."
The man stood there for a moment as the spell struck him and his eyes and seemed to incinerate him.
"Hah, got him" Natsu cheered before his excitement fell at seeing that the man he hit was nowhere to be seen "What the hell?"
"Missed..."
Natsu's eyes widened as he realized the man was behind him and turned just in time to recover another energy beam to the chest, this one stronger than earlier.
Lucy watched with horror as Natsu was sent flying into the jungle, beyond her line of sight before she found herself face to face with one of the eyes that was floating around the man. She let out a startled scream as she fell back on her rear and shot her leg up to kick the eye only to watch as her leg seemed to fly straight through most of the eye. She felt her foot connect with something before she received a blast of energy to the side that sent her flying from the eye she 'kicked'.
"Leave my eye alone you big breasted slut" the man growled in annoyance as he called his eye over to him "How's you like it if I went and kicked you in the eye?"
"Lucy!" Happy said as he flew over to the blonde woman "Are you oaky?"
"N-Not really..." Lucy said with a pained groan "Fuck that hurts..."
The man grinned as pitch black smoke began to pour from his sleeves and from the eyes around him, almost like tears "You think that hurt? Oh no, no, no, no my dear... the real pain's about to come"
"Please no..." Lucy said with a shiver at the dark malice they could all sense coming from the man.
The man's response a chuckle before the black smoke shout out from his body in all directions and quickly surrounded the remaining Fairy Tail mages.
'This isn't good' Peter thought as he finally climbed back to his feet as his danger sense was going haywire before he fell into a coughing fit as he accidently inhaled the mysterious black smoke 'Oh this isn't gonna end well...'
"Time for the nightmares to begin... hehehehehe"
...
And done.
Next chapter, Erza returns to the guild to discover what's transpired...